Friday, we used our sewer tote for the first time. There is a clear elbow fitting on the top but you can't tell how much water is in the tote through it. We ran about 20 second batches, starting with the gray water in case there was a problem. Once we got it up to an acceptable level, where we were able to lift one end to get it onto the truck hitch. We got about half a mile toward the sewer dump when we heard a different noise behind us. It turned out that the cap had come off one wheel. Fortunately there was a nice fellow nearby who helped us lift the tote into the back of the truck. We took 3 loads to the sewer dump this way, and still weren't finished, although fairly close. While we were doing this, our neighbour got his trailer slides in, hooked up and went to the dump, and returned. We still think it will be easier to use the tote in the long run as we have to do a lot of reorganizing to run trailer slides in, but will definitely do a run more often. Now we have an idea of how often we will need to use the tote.
In the evening, we had a bit of panic when we heard on CTV Calgary News that Primecare Health Services hadn't paid their employees and was being sued by ATP for repayment of loans. Our doctors are with Primecare Medical Clinics, which we were pleased to find out aren't associated with Primecare Health. There is even a website clarifying they are not the same.
Saturday morning was warmer than it has been, but the north windchill more than made up for it. We ran the generator for more than 4 hours to see if we can get the batteries fully charged. Took advantage of the extra power to make soup. In the afternoon, we went for a walk back to where we had lost the wheel on our tote, about 1/2 mile. We didn't find the cap for it, but we did find the inside bushing. It looked like someone had set it on the berm next to the road very close to where we stopped. When John put the bushings on the wheel, he noticed a bit of moisture on the bottom of the tote. A small hole had been scraped through the fibreglass body. Time for our go-to leak sealant, eternabond tape patch over the hole. We'll see how that works.
Sunday morning, we went into Yuma for breakfast at Black Bear Diner. Joan had checked their menu a while ago, and wasn't optimistic about vegetarian options. However, she did find some options this time. After breakfast, we picked up propane. We have used about 2/3 tank this month for the heater and a bit more for the fridge and stove, and well under 1/2 a tank for the bbq. We also picked up an assortment of cotter pins to see if one of them would work to replace the axle cap on the sewer tote. We were able to get one of the pins around the axle. We'll see how it works.
By Monday Joan's knee was feeling pretty good, so we did a walk around Senator Wash Reservoir to the North Shore. We based our route on google maps satellite view, which shows the unmarked roads around the area. We followed Lopez Parkway which goes down into the wash from the LTVA office. On the north shore, on a rise above the reservoir, we came across a trailer with a great view reservoir.
Some trailers park next to the reservoir, despite signs which warn people to move to higher ground if they hear warning sirens. This indicates water may be released due to high water flow requiring water to be release from behind the dam.
We saw a hummingbird,
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| ? |
and what we think was an eagle, but our picture was only from the back.
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| Senator Wash Reservoir |
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The Senator Wash Rec Area on the north shore has a $10 daily permit or $75 annual permit. Camping is allowed for a 14 day period, the standard non-long-term BLM term. There are pit toilets in several locations. We chatted with a couple who camp here, then move to Oxbow Rec Area, which has the same rules. It is located near Cibola Wildlife Refuge south of Blyth. The drawback is that there are no garbage, sewer or water facilities. You lose a lot of benefits for almost half the price of the LTVA permit. Back at the LTVA, we headed for the showers, which felt really great after the walk of 4 miles. Joan's knee held out well for this hike. On our way back to the trailer we saw a man and 2 youngsters on the slope below the causeway,
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| grandad and kids working their way down steep slope |
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an elephant statue in the Hurricane Ridge area,
and Joan was lucky to spot 2 burros. We had do some maneuvering to get back to a spot where we could see them.
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| Checking the view between its legs |
On Tuesday, we decided to go looking for the rock dam mentioned by some miners we talked to last week on the hike when Joan aggravated her knee. We drove west toward the hills, parking at the rock garden. A road goes south along the power lines from there. When we got to where the two power lines split, we chose the right hand side, which was the steeper of the two choices. We could see the tower we were heading for last week.
Once we got up to the highest point on the power line, the BLM road headed west toward the tower.
Hopefully we could get to it from here. We could see what looked like it might be the rock dam we were searching for, but it turned out to just be a little build-up of the BLM road. At the 1.5 mile point, Joan decided she had gone far enough for the day, given the steepness of some of the road. From here we got good views of the LTVA to the north,
and south over the reservation toward Yuma.
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| Vegetable fields on reservation |
and back over the LTVA.
John opted to continue about .5 miles further along the BLM road. Shortly he heard a burro snort on a little ridge to the north. There were 5 burros there, carefully watching. You can just pick them out of the background by their white noses, but John was able to get to point where they had the sky behind them.
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| 5 burros |
When John got to the high point on the road, he could see down the valley to the south, and the tower about 1/4 mile to the left along the ridge, but the only reasonable way to get to it, would be to carry on down into the valley, and then go up a road to the tower. We have seen the roads these roads when we drive back from Yuma on the California side of the river. Back near the truck we noticed a large quartz boulder in a wash.
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| Large quartz boulder |
On Wednesday, we went back to the same route as yesterday, parking a little further out, as the road to there was less steep through the wash. On the way out, we saw an egret on a rise above the gravel pit. Because we were in the truck, perhaps, we were able to get quite close to it.
When we got to our start point, a bit past the powerline, we walked south along the powerline again, then where the powerlines split, we went on the shallower route, south toward the Quechan Reserve. Eventually, we got to the canal that curves around past this point. Joan sat for a bit, while John walked east along the canal. He got to the "catfish" power pole we had been told about.
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| Power pole with catfish skulls |
From there, he could see a fireplace structure along a wash just east of the wash we had come down. When he headed back to Joan, she had started down into the wash to head back to the truck. We were able to loop back to the fireplace.
There were a couple of mine holes into the walls on each side of the wash.
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| One of several digs into the rock |
We returned to the truck. On the way back to the trailer, we saw the egret in the gravel pit again. It's not far from water, but still a pretty dry spot for an egret. Perhaps looking for a place to nest?
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| Egret in Gravel Pit |
Thursday morning after a quick breakfast, we put our propane tanks, bbq, sewer tote and steps in the back of the truck and went looking for a new campsite in the northwest corner of the LTVA. We have done all the routes close to the south west end.
We found a spot looking east to Senator Wash Reservoir.
When we started looking around, a lady came out of her unit. She told us she had put rocks in the area next to her, because someone had parked too close to her. They added injury to insult by pointing their generator toward her window. Fortunately they didn't stay long. We found a spot not too near her, and left our stuff while we went back to pick up the trailer, fill up the fresh water tank and dump the sewers.
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